Jorge Lorenzo was delighted with his start to the Assen MotoGP weekend, having finished Thursday practice on top of the standings and happy with his bike, the weather and track.
The MotoGP title leader, who now holds a commanding 37 point advantage over Andrea Dovizioso following his third win of the season last Sunday at Silverstone, felt comfortable and fast from the start of the session.
The Spaniard consistently improved his time at the top, but was put under pressure from Ducati’s Casey Stoner, who finished just 0.011sec off Lorenzo. The Australian’s team-mate Nicky Hayden a further half-second back.
Lorenzo tried both the soft and hard Bridgestone tyres, working especially on the front tyre, having encountered some small problems in that area of the race last year. Yahoo! Eurosport
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards was next up in the order and was just 0.013s off Hayden as he found an improved feeling on his machine.
Repsol Honda pair Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa were separated by just five-hundredths of a second in fifth and sixth places respectively.
Aleix Espargaró’s season continues on its promising path and the Pramac Racing rider was hot on Pedrosa’s heels (+0.005s), with Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completing the highest number of laps of the session with 29 and both had minor detours off track in the session.
Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri (both San Carlo Honda Gresini) completed the top ten. MotoGP
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